Door assembly



March 10, 1970 o A. SCHNEIDER 3,499,

DOOR ASSEMBLY Filed March 6, 196a 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 00x15? 4. Sam/510:2

March 10, 1970 o. A. SCHNEIDER DOOR ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledMarch 6, 1968 Z mo M flrroemss s United States Patent 3,499,478 DOORASSEMBLY Oakley A. Schneider, Blockton, Iowa 50836 Filed Mar. 6, 1968,Ser. No. 710,998 Int. Cl. E05d /26, 15/04 U.S. Cl. 160-207 6 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE The basic door arrangement of this inventionis disclosed in detail in applicants Patent No. 3,196,933 which issuedJuly 27, 1965.

The variable cable power drum makes it possible to easily open large orsmall door either manually or with the aid of a power device. As thedoor is raised from its vertical closed position to its raisedhorizontal position and is moved rearwardly, the power requirements varyand furthermore the torsion spring loses its power as the door is raisedand accordingly the variable cable drum compensates for these changes inpower and power requirements to give smooth operation to the dooropening and closing. If the motorized power unit is employed thevariable power cable drum will serve to maintain a uniform load on themotor throughout its cycle of operation in opening and closing the door.

The variable cable power drum includes a first conical shaped portionadapted to receive a cable at one end and wind the cable along itslength. A second drum portion is positioned closely adjacent the largerdiameter end of the first drum portion and a cable hook is provided onthe second drum portion extending over the smaller diameter end of thefirst drum portion to engage the cable upon being wound down from thelarger diameter end to the smaller end. The guide hook guides the cableinto cable grooves on the second drum portion at its larger diameter endas the drum is rotated. Thus the cable is wrapped initially around thelarger diameter end of the first drum and moves along to its smallerdiameter end whereupon it is engaged by the cable hook on the seconddrum portion which guides the cable onto the larger diameter end of thesecond drum portion and then the cable is adapted to move along thesecond drum portion to the smaller diameter opposite end whereby as thecable moves the length of the drum the power is initially low andgradually increase and then is suddenly reduced and then again graduallyincreases.

It is further contemplated that a cable will be employed to raise thedoor and lower it but the initial braking of the door is not easilyaccomplished with a cable only and thus the rack member driven by a gearis positioned rearwardly of the door and movable rearwardly thereof andin doing so pulls the bottom edge of the top section outwardly when thedoor is initially being opened. After the door is broken the cable thencompletes the lifting of the door to its horizontal position. Similarly,when the door is lowered, the rack moves forwardly towards the door andserves to return the door sections to their vertical position, a jobwhich the cables cannot conveniently accomplish.

A further feature of this door is in the pivotal connection of the topsection to the support members which include tracks in which rollers aremovable carried by hangers on the top door section. When the top doorsection is in its vertical position a locking element is posi- 'icetioned perpendicularly to a locking element on the track therebypreventing the top edge of the top door section to move rearwardly;however, when the top door section is pivoted upwardly the lockingelement on the hanger pivots around the cooperating element on the trackand assumes a parallel relationship thereby releasing the top doorsection to move rearwardly. A guide track is provided for rollers on thelower edge of the top door section as the top door section is pivotedupwardly to its horizontal position.

In further reference to the operation of the door when it is beingoperated by the gear and rack, it is seen that a clutch compensatingunit is provided which includes a torsion spring mounted on the shaftcarrying the rack gear and power cable. drum whereby compensation ismade for the difference in cable movement while the door is beingactuated by the rack as compared with the cable movement when the dooris being raised by the cables after the gear has walked out ofengagement with the rack.

These and other features and advantages of this invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to thefollowing description when taken into consideration with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the door of this invention and thevariable cable power drum;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the hanger on thetop of the top door section;

FIGS. 3-6 show the door and the variable power cable drum in theircorresponding positions during various stages throughout a completecycle of operation at times when power requirements significantlychange;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of the door but showingthe addition of a door opener operated by a motorized power unit;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9-9 in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 10 is a top plan view taken along line 1010 in FIG. 9.

The door of this invention is referred to generally in FIG. 1 by thereference numeral 10 and includes a top door section 12 and a lower doorsection 14 pivoted together by hinges 16 (FIG. 3). A horizontallydisposed header 18 is provided with oppositely disposed vertical sidemembers 20. A pair of rearwardly extending rails Z are provided on theback side of the header 18 and are connected at their rear ends to atransversely extending support member 24.

A lift spring 26 is mounted on a shaft 28 extending in parallelrelationship to the member 24 and supported by rearwardly extendingsup-port members 30. A variable power cable drum 32 is provided atopposite ends of the shaft 28 and engages a cable 34 which extendsforwardly over a sheave 36 at the top of the door section 12 on thevertical member 20 and thence downwardly to an anchor point 38 on thelower door section 14 as seen for example in FIG. 3.

The construction of the cable power drum 32 is shown in detail in FIGS.3-6 and is seen to include a first conical shaped drum portion 40 whichtapers down to a substantially uniform in diameter shaped smaller endportion 42 which is overlapped by a hook element 44 on the largerdiameter end of a second drum portion 46 which in turn tapers downwardlyto a smaller diameter end portion 48. In FIG. 3 it is seen that the dooris in its vertically closed position and the power requirements at thispoint are comparatively small until it reaches the position of FIG. 4where it is beginning to be raised and thus the cable as it advancesmoves from the larger diameter into the smaller diameter end andaccordingly the power is increased as it moves along the length of thedrum portion 4%. Once the roller 5% on the rear or lower end of the topdoor section 12 engages the track 22 as seen in FIG. 5 the top doorsection 112 requires little additional power and thus the cable 34engages the hook 44 at the maximum diameter end of the second drumportion 46. The higher the lower door section 14 moves the less thepower requirement is and accordingly the cable Wraps around the seconddrum portion to its smaller diameter end 48. It is understood thatthrough the cycle of operation that the diameter of the drum sections 40and 46 are designed to take into consideration the reduced poweravailable in the lifting spring 26 as the door is raised and the storedenergy in the spring is released.

In FIG. 2 the top door section 12 is seen to have a hanger bracket 54which includes a rearwardly disposed top portion 56 having a laterallyextending roller 58 movable in the track as of the member 22. Alaterally extending stop element 62 is provided on the member 22 andextends over the hanger portion 56 and into engagement with a pin 64which is perpendicularly and vertically arranged when the door section12 is in its vertical position. It is seen however that as the top doorsection 12 pivots upwardly the pin 64 is disengaged from the pin 62 bypivoting downwardly and rearwardly thereof and thus the top door section12 is permitted to move rearwardly to its position as seen in FIG. 6after the rear roller St? has engaged the track 60. Further, it is seenthat guide tracks 70 are provided on opposite sides of the door andextend from the vertical members 20 for rollers 72 carried on the bottomedge of the top door section 12 to move in while the top door section 12is being pivoted upwardly. The guides 70 are shaped to conform to theradius of pivotal movement of the top door section 11.2 and thus guidethe lower edge of the door section 12 while the top edge is held inplace by the cooperating lock elements 62 and 64 until the door section12 is completely raised to its horizontal position of FIGS. 5 and 6.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 through it is seen that the top door section isoperated by a rack and gear unit 72 for braking the door from itsvertically closed position. The rack and gear unit include a movablerack member 74 having a sprocket chain 76 welded on its top face forengagement with a gear sprocket 78 carried on a power shaft 80. The rack74 is slidably movable on the rear wardly extending horizontal member 82which is anchored at its forward end to the header 1%. The real end ofthe movable rack 74 is pivotally connected to an arm 84 which extendsdownwardly and forwardly to a pivotal connection with the lower end oredge of the top door section 12.

The power shaft 8t is driven by a door opener motor 86 seen in FIG. 7driving a belt 88 connected to a gear box 90 which in turn drives theshaft through a belt 92. The desired gear reduction is accomplishedthrough this power transmission arrangement. The shaft 8t) also carriesa torsion spring '24 affixed at its end 96 to the shaft 8t) and havingits other end 98 affixed to the side of a uniform in diameter drum 1%having an outwardly extending pin 102 oriented in parallel relationshipto the axis of rotation of the drum Mitt. A collar Til-4 is mounted onthe shaft 8t? and is held by set screws 1%. The collar 104 is providedwith a perpendicular pin 1% in the rotational path of the pin 102. Thedrum M90 is freely rotatable on the shaft 8t and may thus rotate nearlyone complete revolution as the pin Hi2 carried thereon moves from oneside of the pin 108 to the opposite side, an angle of almost 360degrees.

The cable 34 is wrapped around the variable cable power drum 32 on theshaft 28 and extends forwardly over the sheave 36 downwardly where it isanchored to the lower end of the door section 14 as in the case of thedoor shown in FIGS. 1 through 6. Additionally, however,

a second endless cable Hi9 extends around the drum 1% with one of itsreturn portions llltti extending forwardly over a sheave 1112 and thendownwardly where it is anchored to the door section 11.4 at the sameplace the end of the cable 34 is anchored to the same door section. Theother cable portion 114 extends over another forwardly disposed sheave1M and downwardly along the outer edge of a sheave 118 in the plane ofthe door thence over a sheave 124 positioned at a 45 degree angle to thesheave M8 and finally over a third sheave 122 having an axis of rotationparallel to the plane of the door. The cable end portion 114 is thenanchored on the door 14 along with the other cable ends. The threepulleys 118, 120 and 122 serve to position the cable W9 out of the wayof the door 15 so that it may be opened.

in operation the door opener unit 72 functions as follows. The bottom ofthe door section 14 initially moves very little and therefore the cable109 extending around the drum 1% will not move while the shaft isturning in operating the rack '74 to move the door sections to the dashline position in FIG. 9. At the time the gear 78 rotates out of the rack74 it has rotated one revolution and the pin 102 contacts the pin 168and the drum is then turned causing the cable portion to wrap around thedrum 1659 as the shaft 80 as viewed in FIG. 9 is rotatedcounter-clockwise and therefore the cable return portion 114 isunwrapped from the drum 1%. During this operation the pins 192 and 108are held in engagement with each other and tension is maintained on thetorsion spring 94. When the shaft 80 is rotated counter-clockwise asviewed in FIG. 9 for closing, the tension on the spring 94 holds thepins 102 and 108 together until the bottom of the bottom door section 14reaches the bottom of its travel. At this time the cables 110 and 114 onthe drum 1% must stop their movement but the shaft 8% must continue torotate enough to move the rack '74 now engaged by the gear 78 back tothe solid line position in FIG. 9. When the sprocket 78 enters the rack74 and the bottom of the door is not moving, the pins 162 and 1% areseparated and the spring 94 is tightened by the amount that the sprocket78 in the rack 74 is turned. Thus it is seen that power is transmittedto the cables for raising the door through the spring 94 and the drumltitl and the pins 102 and 108 whereby the rack and unit 72 is initiallyused to brake the door open and return it to its vertically closedposition while the cables are used for the raising and loweringoperation. The amount of turning of the shaft 8% in the drum 100 willvary according to the length of the rack 74 and the size of the gear 73but it is seen that a maximum amount of nearly one revolution ispossible before the cables 110 and 114 will be activated.

I claim: ll. An overhead door assembly, a foldable door having a topsection and a bottom section with portions hingedly connected together,a header having a side member extending downwardly from at least oneend, a stationary support means extending rearwardly of said header,said header, side member and support means defining a door supportstructure, means on said top section releasably pivoting the upper endof said top section to said door support structure, means for releasingsaid means on said top section upon said top section being pivotedupwardly to a predetermined position as said bottom section is movedupwardly, means connected to said bottom section for controlling thehorizontal movement of said bottom section as said top section ispivoted upwardly and said bottom section moves upwardly, said topsection upon being pivoted to said predetermined position, movingrearwardly along said support means as said bottom section is movedupwardly,

means for supporting the hinged together portions of said top and bottomsections of said door upon said top section pivoting upwardly toadjacent said predetermined position,

a rack movable along a line substantially perpendicular to said door,

an arm connected to said top door section remotely of its upper end andto said rack, and

a power driven gear engaging said rack to move said door sections intoand out of a closed vertically dis posed position.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said gear is affixed to a shaftconnected to and extending through a torsion spring, said torsion springbeing connected at one end to said shaft and connected at its other endto a cable pulley freely rotatable on said shaft, a stop means affixedto said shaft in the path of a finger on said pulley when said pulley isrotated, a cable driven by said pulley and connected to said bottomsection for raising and lowering said door, said pulley being adapted torotate against the action of said spring for one revolution tocompensate for the movement of said cable as said door is raised andlowered slightly when said door is being moved into and out of saidvertical closed position by said gear and rack.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein varying the initial raising of saiddoor said gear and rack are operative for one revolution of said shaftby which time said gear moves out of said rack and thereafter said drumis rotated moving said cable thereby moving said door upwardly as saidshaft and drum are rotated and upon said door being substantiallylowered said rack returns to engagement with said gear for moving saiddoor to its vertical closed position as said shaft makes one revolutionat the time said cable has substantially stopped moving and said drum issubstantially rotationally stationary.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said top door section includes astationary curved guide track extending rearwardly and a roller in thelower end of said top door section movable on said guide track, ahorizontally disposed track extending rearwardly of the upper end ofsaid top door section and a hanger on said top door section adjacentsaid upper edge having a roller positioned in said horizontal track, andsaid hanger and track having cooperating perpendicularly oriented lockedelements when said top door is closed in said vertical position, andsaid elements being oriented in substantial parallel relationship anddisengaged upon said top section being pivoted to a horizontal raisedposition whereby said top door section may move rearwardly.

5. An overhead door assembly,

a foldable door having a top section and a bottom section with portionshingedly connected together,

a header having a side member extending downwardly from at least oneend,

a stationary support means extending rearwardly of said header,

said header, side member and support means defining a door supportstructure, means on said top section releasably pivoting the upper endof said top section to said door support structure, means for releasingsaid means on said top section upon said top section being pivotedupwardly to a predetermined position as said bottom section is movedupwardly, means connected to said bottom section for controlling thehorizontal movement of said bottom section as said top section ispivoted upwardly and said bottom section moves upwardly,

said top section upon being pivoted to said predetermined position,moving rearwardly along said support means as said bottom section ismoved upwardly,

means for supporting the hinged together portions of said top and bottomsections of said door upon said top section pivoting upwardly toadjacent said predetermined position,

a rack movable along a line substantially perpendicular to said door,

an arm connected to said top door section remotely of its upper end andto said rack,

and a power driven gear engaging said rack to move said door sectionsinto and out of a closed vertically disposed position,

power means including a cable connected to said door and to a drum, saiddrum having a first portion decreasing in diameter, said cable securedon said first portion on the larger diameter when said door is in avertical closed position and adapted to wind on said first portion alongits length to said smaller diameter as said door is broken open andstarts to fold, a second portion having a decreasing diameter andperipheral cable grooves at its largest diameter,

guide means for feeding said cable into cable grooves on the largerdiameter end of said second portion after a predetermined length ofcable has been wound on said first portion and said door has been raisedto a predetermined point where said hinged portions are in engagementwith said support means, said cable adapted to be wound around saidsecond portion along its length as said bottom section is raised to ahorizontal position and said first section is moved rearwardly,

said guide means being a hook element which extends longitudinally fromthe outer surface of the larger diameter end of said second portion oversaid first portion at its smaller diameter and in the path of said cablebeing wound on the smaller diameter end of said first portion wherebysaid cable may be engaged by said hook element and guided into saidperipheral cable grooves on the larger diameter end of said secondportion,

and the load on said power means is substantially constant because thepower requirements of said door in being moved from a vertical closedposition to an open position with both said first and second sectionshorizontally disposed are coordinated with the power developed along thelength of said first and second drum portions.

6. A variable power drum for a power cable comprising,

a first conical shaped drum portion adapted to receive a cable at oneend and wind the cable along its length, said drum portion varying inits outer diameter along its length,

a second drum portion positioned closely adjacent said other end of saidfirst drum portion,

a cable hook on said second drum portion extending over said other endof said first drum portion to engage said cable upon being wound down tosaid other end, said second drum portion having a substantially largerdiameter at its end adjacent said hook and peripherally extending cablegrooves being formed in said larger diameter end adjacent said hook, andsaid hook adapted to guide said cable into said cable grooves on saidsecond drum portion as said drum is rotated,

said second drum portion being conical and being oriented similarly tosaid first drum portion whereby said cable is wrapped initially aroundsaid larger diameter end of said first drum and moves along to itssmaller diameter end whereupon it is engaged by said hook on said seconddrum portion which guides said cable onto said larger diameter end ofsaid second drum portion and then said cable is adapted to move alongsaid second drum portion to said smaller diameter opposite end, wherebyas said cable moves the length of said drum said power is initially lowand 7 8 gradually increases and then is suddenly reduced and 3,196,9337/ 1965 Schneider 160207 then again gradually increases. 3,389,7406/1968 Buehler 160188 References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS UNITED STATESPATENTS 5 g 1,1s3,402 5/1916 Prescott 160-193 f 1,597,028 8/1926 Feidtet a1 160-193 DENNIS A R, r y Ex mm r 1,682,772 9/1928 Cahill 160-211 XUs. CLXR 1,940,485 12/1933 Beeman et a1 49200 49 3 2; 16O 193 I2,097,950 11/1937 Johnson "160-189 1

